just bought a new car (95 ///M3) and it has failed smog twice. in the hydrocarbon area first time it failed at 15mph second time if failed at 25mph by only 3 points. im takin it in to my mechanic tomorrow to check it out but just seeing if any of you have any tips off hand. im really mad about this so any help is appreciated! thanks!

deven

stick in a bottle of the sure pass stuff from pep boys

just bought a new car (95 ///M3) and it has failed smog twice. in the hydrocarbon area first time it failed at 15mph second time if failed at 25mph by only 3 points. im takin it in to my mechanic tomorrow to check it out but just seeing if any of you have any tips off hand. im really mad about this so any help is appreciated! thanks!

deven

You're running to rich. Did you do a tuneup before you smog check? Sometime changing your Plugs, Oil and Air filter really helps.

Can you scan or tell us, by how much you failed?

failed by 3 points in hydrocarbon at 25mph

(Broken record) Did you heat up the cats before inspection?... If you ddint its a good idea. i've heard many positive things about that sure pass also but I've never tried it. Changing everything Angelaye3281 recommended is also a good idea.

i ran it hard and good to warm the cats up nice and good before inspeciton. ill just let my mech. check it out tomrorow and see what he says.

did you just buy the car license plate PHAT M3 by any chance?

Mechanic? Why don't you get a bottle of sure pass, change the oil and plugs, and see if that fixes your problem. I guess that's what seperates the E30 and E36 guys, we work on our cars.

Mechanic? Why don't you get a bottle of sure pass, change the oil and plugs, and see if that fixes your problem. I guess that's what seperates the E30 and E36 guys, we work on our cars.
haha im in my garage every single day workin on my car. there is nothing i love more than to work on my car. i just dont know crap about anything related to smog and wasnt sure if doing those things would help. my mech. doesnt charge me to take a look at it and i'd just like to know if there might be a bigger problem anyways. if he says it looks good and needs a tune up i would never pay for that. so hmm, no difference btwn e30 and e36 guy after all, just a diff. btwn the knowledge of you n me. and no i didnt buy that car i just bought it from a guy in the long beach area. silver 95 m3

Mechanic? Why don't you get a bottle of sure pass, change the oil and plugs, and see if that fixes your problem. I guess that's what seperates the E30 and E36 guys, we work on our cars.

That's the gayest thing i've read all day.

alot of the times when i've smogged a bmw and it failed for HC it was the o2 sensor, have your mech. check to see if your o2 sensor is switching properly.

Just went through this nightmare.Take the car for a good 1/2 hour drive.Take it right from the drive onto his Dino.Do not repeat do not have the car sitting waiting on idle outside for the test it cools the Cats.Ask him if you can run a pretest or a manual test.See if he will run it on the Dino at 50mph for a few mins then test.Mine went from sh-t to passing with flying colors,5 tests later.Now I know.
Good luck,Martin

my mech. changed out the plugs said he thinks thats the problem so im gonna take it in on sunday take it out for a nice hard drive beforehand maybe even get a bottle of that surepass stuff. i guess we will see if that does it! im going to try to ask him if he can run it for a lil beforehand hopefully he's a nice guy.

try to go when he's not busy. You basically want to rollup on to the smog machine right away.

FYI - While i was waiting for my test guy to do the initial paperwork, i was in my car with my foot planted keeping my revs up to around 4k. This was after coming back from a hard high speed 30 minute drive up and down the 134 thru glendale (elevation gain/loss).

I passed with flying colors (though i know my car has had no problems passing ever).

Good luck. Smog problems suck.

EDIT: Here are my numbers as a baseline on a car with fresh oil, 6-7k old sparkplugs, clean K&N aircleaner, hot run:

15mph / CO2 / 02/ HC / CO / NOx
-------14.8-/0.00/37-/.03-/102
25mph / CO2 / O2 / HC / CO / NOx
-------14.8-/0.00/36-/.04-/188